Chapter 192 Dyson Sphere

The flames seeped into the crystal, spreading rapidly through the hair-thin, bewilderingly complex three-dimensional structures within. As the flames poured in, Duncan's consciousness began to sink.

He felt himself entering a vast, silent, and icily still place.

It was as if he had entered a corner forgotten for countless ages, a sense of inexplicable isolation and loneliness transmitted almost instantly along with the flames. Then, he felt light appear in his vision—intense, almost immeasurable, and cold light.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing on a massive black stone floating in the void. A terrifying golden sun burned quietly before him. Flames churned on the sun's surface, and astonishing solar prominences rose and fell silently in the void.

Yet this sun produced no heat. Even at such close range, Duncan felt none of the dreadful heat that should have accompanied such sunlight. It simply burned silently and coldly, like a purely recorded...image.

The Black Sun? I’ve seen it again?

Duncan frowned slightly, instinctively thinking so, but then he realized that this heatless golden sun was different from the "Black Sun" he had seen before. Its outer shell lacked the bizarre and terrifying tentacle structures, and he could not see the dying, pale eyeball. More importantly, this "sun" was not trying to call for help.

It was an image recording left by a true star!

Duncan quickly realized this. Then, he finally shifted his gaze from the cold sun and began to notice the "black giant stone" beneath his feet.

This was a massive artificial object!

Its surface was smooth, with clearly man-made grooves and carvings. The material, which appeared to be stone, faintly gleamed with metallic luster. Certain "nodes" in the grooves had protruding structures of unknown purpose, as if made of strange crystals.

Duncan's gaze extended outward along the edge of the giant stone, looking at the vast, boundless dark void surrounding the golden sun.

He saw more "giant stones"—countless massive black artificial objects, like "steles," floating around the golden sun, in the boundless darkness, arranged in orderly arrays like walls. From this perspective, he finally saw more details of their sun-facing sides. Accurately cut crystal surfaces on one side of the giant stones reflected sunlight, and beneath the crystals seemed to be precise and complex mechanical devices, apparently used to adjust the angle of the crystal array. The entire structure looked…as if it was collecting energy released by the sun?!

Duncan stared blankly at the array of "giant stones" floating around the sun, watching them form a massive, loose sphere in the darkness, surrounding the central star. He then noticed the faint, twisted light, like some kind of force field, between each floating device. Outside this astonishing "sphere" structure, in the boundless depths of darkness, there seemed to be more hazy shadows, but they were too distant and the sunlight interfered, making it impossible to see clearly.

What was that?

Distant planets? Space stations? Giant spaceships? Or…

The control center for maintaining and controlling this amazing Dyson sphere?

After an unknown amount of time, Duncan finally withdrew his gaze from the vast sphere array in space. It took him a long time to recover after realizing what he was seeing.

...In the crystal device left by the Sun Children, what was stored was not some dark, forbidden truth or the corrupted knowledge of ancient gods, but…an ancient Dyson sphere structure.

Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly.

No, these *were* the dark, forbidden truths and the corrupted knowledge of ancient gods. To the Deep Sea Era, to the remains left by other universes, to everything that existed under other mathematical systems, a Dyson sphere supported and built with parameters from an alien universe was the ultimate corruption and pollution.

After recovering from his shock, Duncan stepped towards the edge of the black "giant stone" beneath his feet, while recalling the "New Hope" he had seen crashed into this world.

Had that ship also become "pollution" to this world? After it crashed…what had it become?

He stood at the edge of the stellar energy collector, looking down.

The machine shell like a cliff and the distant, boundless darkness filled his vision.

Duncan knew that there was actually no "up" or "down" here. If anything, the gravity released by the distant star pointed to the only "downward" direction, but his senses still told him that the black device beneath his feet was down. Standing on the shell of this device felt as grounded as standing on solid ground—he would neither fall into the endless space nor be captured and sucked away by the sun's gravity.

This discrepancy between rational knowledge and actual feeling helped constantly remind him that this was just an illusion recorded inside a "Blasphemy Prototype."

Then, what was deeper in this record? Was there anything else?

Duncan sensed his flames. He controlled the flames to spread deeper into the crystal, allowing his consciousness to sink further.

The glorious golden sun and the astonishing Dyson sphere structure disappeared before his eyes.

Boundless darkness spread from all directions, filling his vision.

Contrary to expectations, he did not see the scene of the civilization that had built the Dyson sphere being destroyed, nor did he see another world collision. He seemed to have skipped this process entirely, arriving in the dark chaos after everything had died.

After lingering in this dark chaos for an unknown amount of time, just as Duncan was almost beginning to doubt that there was any more information in this crystal, a few glimmers of light suddenly appeared in his vision!

Several rays of light appeared, and there seemed to be vague shapes within the light. Some were huge, some were bizarre, and some were twisted and amorphous. He could not see the true outlines of those glimmers, but he heard…"voices."

Those voices rang directly in his mind—

"...Compatibility is severely below expectations. That 'King of Dreams' also failed... We must adjust the plan..."

"The sanctuary cannot protect everyone... The survival conditions of some entities are too harsh. Ensuring their safety while ensuring the safety of other entities... is too difficult."

"...Draft a list. Those outside the list..."

"Who will make this decision? How will the criteria for the list be determined?"

"...First determine the compatibility threshold, then simulate... Lh-01 has calculated a plan to create a stable anchor that can maximize the security of... but still requires abandoning a portion..."

After that was a chaotic noise, as if the corresponding records were missing. Duncan was dizzy from the noise, but soon he heard clear information emerging from the noise—

"...The entities on this part of the list cannot withstand the transformation and the cost of preserving them is too high... They can only be abandoned."

"...There is still three percent redundancy, which can be adjusted..."

"...They must live in a specific stellar environment. To other entities, their sunlight is poisonous... Lh-01's plan cannot meet this requirement... Time is running out."

"...Abandon them."

Boom!

A phantom rumble shattered all the sounds, shattered the boundless darkness. Duncan felt that he had touched the lowest level of this information—no more information emerged. In the rumble and dizziness, his consciousness quickly withdrew from the depths of the crystal.

He opened his eyes and saw the familiar cabin before him. The pale golden crystal was lying in his palm, rapidly turning into a pile of ashes under the burning of the green flames.

The information contained in the crystal had been extracted, and this "Blasphemy Prototype," which should not have existed in the real dimension, had lost its stability.

Duncan rubbed his hands, and the last bit of ash remaining in his palm immediately dissolved into the air.

He raised his head and met the goat head's gaze.

"What did you see?" the goat head asked, a little nervously.

"...The process of them being abandoned. The contents recorded in that 'Book of Blasphemy' have been confirmed once again."

Duncan did not hide anything. He told the goat head all the information he had seen and heard in the depths of the crystal.

Of course, he did not explain the details of the "Dyson sphere"—this part could not be explained clearly in a short time.

After he finished speaking, the captain's cabin was silent for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, the goat head suddenly moved. Its tone was a bit complicated: "...In that 'Book of Blasphemy,' it is recorded that during the Third Long Night, 'clans' were exiled into the darkness..."

Duncan nodded gently. Of course, he also remembered this description: "It is also recorded that the clans exiled into the darkness did not die—they gradually twisted in the long exile, transforming into... more dangerous things."

The goat head pondered for a while and suddenly asked: "What do you think of this matter? Do you think the actions of those Sun Children are now... excusable?"

"It is meaningless to discuss right and wrong in such matters," Duncan shook his head. "The world is not built on fairness. I don't know what state this world was in after the Great Annihilation and before the start of the Deep Sea Era. I don't know how many plans the 'Kings' who tried to build the sanctuary had, how many trade-offs they had made. It is foolish and short-sighted to comment on the choices made by predecessors when paving the way, especially from our current position... Any form of 'sympathy' is both unreasonable and unnecessary."

"...You are correct." The goat head said softly after a moment of silence.

Duncan did not say anything more. He just nodded gently, then his gaze fell on the small "sun" that Vanna had obtained from the giants.

(End of this chapter)